Hatcher Pass and Independence Mine

Along Hatcher Pass

On Wednesday, the 18th, we began the day with some minor RV repairs before heading out to the scenic area of Hatcher Pass, a 71.2 mile mostly gravel road between Palmer and Willow.

Bunkhouse No. 2

We drove to the Palmer entrance of the pass and headed out toward Independence Mine, about 20 miles down the road. Robert Lee Hatcher discovered gold scattered in the quartz veins of the granite near the summit of Skyscraper Mountain in 1906, but extracting the gold from a vein required heavy equipment and tunneling.

Bunkhouse No. 1 with
collapsed mine buildings on left

Independ- ence Mine was formed in 1937 after two separate mining companies joined to become the Alaska-Pacific Consolidated Mining Company. With several much smaller operations in place earlier, the mine operated from 1937 until 1943 when gold mining was classified as non-essential to the war effort. It re-opened in 1946 but closed again in 1951, never having regained its former glory or profitability.

Hatcher Pass Lodge

Between 1936 and 1951, over 181,000 Troy ounces of gold were extracted from the mine. Subsequently, the entire site along with 271 acres of land around it became part of the Alaska State Historical Park system in 1980. Today, what remains of the mine are several interesting structures in various stages of disrepair. Some had already succumbed to the ravages of time and heavy snow before the park system had even acquired the property. Those structures now look like pancaked versions of their former selves.

Independence Mine

Collapsed mine buildings

We toured the old buildings, including the manager's house, the mine office and commissary, both bunkhouses, the mill complex and the mine shops. We peeked through telescopes at several dilapidated structures high on the mountain peaks above the mine site, as well.

We hiked up around the top of the entire site as the clouds rolled in above us. We continued along the trail and farther up the hillside to the Gold Cord Mine, a much smaller, privately-owned series of old buildings just above the Independence Mine on the mountain face.

The two bunkhouses

Across the valley, we could spot the old ruins of 'Boomtown', once about 20 houses privately built and owned by married miners, now reduced to a single cabin and some timbers of a few others. We hiked back down to the car after our 2 hour walk, having seen all the way down the valley to the town of Palmer off in the distance. What a gorgeous day!

Little Susitna River

We headed to an early dinner (having skipped lunch for our great hike) and back down Hatcher Pass along the Little Susitna River. This stunning river begins as a glacial trickle some 19 miles upstream and, after accumulating snow melt, rain and tiny springs along the way, becomes a raging torrent of water rushing over huge glacially-deposited boulders in the bottom of the valley.

Independence Mine and valley
down to Palmer in the distance

We dined at the Denali Restaurant, a pleasant diner with tasty food not far from the RV park. Over happy hour at the coach, we plotted our course of action for the next several weeks.

What a beautiful day!